The Blackthorne Exchange
by Ciara Wynne
Summary: I know, you've seen it before- the girls go to Blackthorne instead of the other way round, no mention of the Circle of Cavarn, and Blackthorne doesn't look like a prison- their cover is similar to Gallagher Academy. Just give it a try, okay? Thanks.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Gallagher Girls, or the characters, no matter how many times I wish on shooting stars that turn out to be helicopters.

My name is Cammie Morgan. I go to the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. It's supposed to be a finishing school for female geniuses. Wrong- well, sort of. That's just our cover. Really, my school is training us for the life of a spy. The idea, when Gillian Gallagher first opened her mansion in Roseville, Virginia, as a school, was to show the world of secret intelligence that women are perfectly capable of travelling the world, protecting their country, and kicking evil terrorist organisation butt.

What we didn't know (well, what most of the school's student population didn't know, save four girls) is that we're not the only spy school in America. So, sit back and relax; this is the story of Gallagher Academy, and Blackthorne Institute.

Chapter 1

Cammie's POV

"Ladies!" Joe Solomon called for our attention. We were in Cove Ops class, awaiting our lesson. Bex was hoping that we would be infiltrating a top secret facility so she could kick butt. Macey was hoping we'd have to go undercover and get to wear cute outfits. I, however, knew exactly what Joe was going to say, so didn't waste my time hoping.

Joe grinned wickedly at us. "It's field trip day. Your task will be to tail and compromise fifteen operatives. But," he smirked at us. "These operatives are… _different_."

Bex, Macey and I shared a knowing look. Of course, we had an idea of what was going on, thanks to some snooping in my mother's office the other day. (look, I left my homework there the night before, and Bex is a teenage spy in training- what'd you expect?)

Joe picked up fifteen padded envelopes and chucked them down on the desks. "These are your Subjects, this is what they look like. They know they're being tailed, but they won't know it's you. They'll be aiming to get to a certain destination by a certain time. Your task is to delay them, tail them, and make sure they never suspect. If they realise and describe you, you've been compromised. Is this understood, ladies?" we nodded our agreement. "Now, go get changed, and meet me by the helicopter in twenty minutes."

Zach's POV

"Gentlemen!" Stanton clapped his hands for our attention as we settled into the classroom. "I have news. We're taking an assignment out of school bounds." I turned away from Grant and Jonas. This would be interesting.

Stanton led us to an unmarked van and chucked blindfolds at us. We didn't question him; we knew what to do. We sat in silence for two and a half hours, occasionally muttering something to the student next to us. Eventually, the van came to a stop. We ripped off our blindfolds.

'Boys, welcome to Washington," Stanton announced. "Here's your task: get to the Smithsonian, meet me at the Ruby slippers exhibit by 5." We made to get up, but he held up his hand. "Wait- there's more. There are 15 other operatives out there. They've been given the task of tailing you without your knowing. You must get to the exhibit in time and alone. If you spot your tail, and you lose them by the time you get there, you describe them to me, and they're compromised. Got it?" we nodded. "Good luck, boys."

Please review, it would mean a lot to me, seeing as this is my first fanfic. Please, no dissing (except for constructive critisism) it was an off day for me


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Gallagher Girls, Ally Carter owns all rights, I am merely borrowing the characters. Please enjoy!

I'm posting this earlier than I expcted, but i'm really happy because I've had 3 really nice reviews, 3 people following this story, and 2 people have favourited this. A shout-out to:

**Beautifulgirl001**

**cammieXzachxx**

**Ktclaire99** (my first reviewer)

Chapter 2

Cammie's POV

Bex and I were walking down the street, when we saw them.

"Cam!" Bex hissed, her face neutral, but her voice filled with excitement. "Cam, it's them! My God, the blond one is so hot; and the other one…" her eyes analysed my Subject. "Tall, dark, and handsome," she mused.

"Bex, we're supposed to be tailing them, not checking them out," I scolded, pretending to be interested by the Einstein bobble-heads in a gift shop window.

"But I _want one_," Bex complained like a child. The boys were leaning against a wall, talking to each other and looking around.

"They're not puppies that you can take home and play dress up with. Look, they're splitting up."

"See you in a bit!" Bex walked off, blending into a tourist group passing by.

I shook my head, and turned to follow my Subject.

Zach's POV

"Dude," Grant said. "Hot chicks, by the gift shop." We leaned against a wall, looking inconspicuous, but at the same time watching the girls Grant had pointed out from the corner of our eyes. One was like an Egyptian goddess, with her coffee-coloured skin, and her dark hair.

"Nice," I shrugged. But then the Egyptian goddess' friend turned around, and I couldn't help but stare. Her hair was some place between blonde, brunette, and a hint of red. And her eyes; I couldn't place a name for the colour, but they were simply gorgeous.

"Dude," Grant repeated. "Zach, we gotta go. The tails could be anywhere. Have you seen anything?"

I turned away from the girl. "Nah, but we should split, just in case." Grant nodded, and he turned left, while I turned right.

Cammie POV

I'd been on the boy's tail for ages, and he hadn't realised. How easy could this be?

I got out my phone, and, pretending to dial a number, I held it up to my ear, speaking into my comms. "Joe?"

"Yes, Cammie?"

"This is too easy." I pretended to scratch my cheek, so the chance of any lip reading was nil. "The Subject has no idea that I'm there. Do I have teacher's permission to mess with him?"

Joe chuckled. "On a real mission, I would advise against it, but I'll allow you to."

"I'll make it worthwhile."

"That's my girl."

I put away my phone and dashed into an alleyway, making my way towards the Smithsonian.

Zach's POV

This had to be a joke. I was inside the Smithsonian, ten minutes away from the exhibit, and there was no sign of a trail whatsoever. Stanton had said that Joe Solomon was in charge of this assignment, and would be meeting us at the exhibit; Joe Solomon doesn't make anything easy.

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, I crashed into someone and knocked them flying. I looked down to see a girl about my age, clutching her ankle.

"My God, I'm so sorry." I knelt down next to her. "Are you hurt?"

"Yeah," the girl's hazelnut eyes seemed to be holding back tears. "I think I sprained it." She laughed bitterly. "And I was supposed to be meeting my dad at the Julia Child's Kitchen Exhibit in ten minutes."

I honestly felt bad about knocking the girl over, so I helped her up. "I'm headed in that direction too. You want me to take you?"

The girl looked up at me. "You are?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting my teacher in a few minutes. School project." I rolled my eyes.

"Huh. Yeah, thanks."

I put one of her arms over my shoulder, and wrapped my arm around her waist, taking some of the weight off her foot. Somehow we managed to get to her exhibit, and I looked at my watch. _Darn it._ it was five minutes to five.

"Hey," the girl called out as I rushed off. "What's your name?"

I stumbled. "Uh… John," I said the first name that came to my head. it was a pretty common name.

"Well, thanks John. I owe you one." And with that, she limped off.

I made a dash for the exhibit, bursting through the doors; I was extremely pleased with myself- that is, until I caught Joe Solomon's expression.

"Mr Goode, you got here with only twenty-seven seconds to spare," Mr Solomon stated. "I would've expected better from you."

I smirked. "Yeah, but I got here on time, and I'm alone." But then my exhilarated feelings turned to dread when Joe started shaking his head.

"Alone?" he cried. "They were practically next to you the entire time! And for the rest of you," he glared at the fourteen other boys, "None of you came here tail-less, but now you must redeem yourselves by identifying them."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't have any claims to Gallagher Girls; all rights go to Ally Carter.

Chapter 3

Cammie's POV

The boys were reeling off the girls like a grocery list. Through my comms unit, I could hear disappointed sighs as one by one, my friends were compromised. I heard Bex mutter swear words under her breath as her Subject, Grant, I think his name was, listed the colour of Bex's hair and skin, and what coat she had been wearing.

Then nobody spoke again. I pretended to scratch behind my ear while I tapped my earpiece. There wasn't any static. Hmm…

Then Joe's voice came on again. "Boys, I think you forgot someone. I said there were fifteen operatives. You've only listed fourteen." Then it hit me. Me. They'd forgotten me. My friends congratulated me over my comms.

Joe was speaking. "Right boys, make your way back to Stanton. I'll see you soon."

There was shuffling and suddenly Joe's voice was back. "Well done, Cammie."

I chuckled. "Those Blackthorne Boys don't know what hit them."

There was silence, and suddenly my comms burst with voices. I could hear two voices that were simply laughing. Bex and Macey, no doubt.

I finally made it back to the school helicopter, where the rest of the Cove Ops class was waiting to ambush- I'm sorry, _question_ me.

"Blackthorne Boys?" Tina Walters pounced. "What do you mean, _Blackthorne Boys_?"

Suddenly, Joe Solomon was there. "Cam, how did you know?"

Bex and Macey had joined me. "Did you really just ask that question, Mr Solomon?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I don't know why we bother to keep this information private from you girls."

"What about the exchange?" Macey asked. That got the girls talking again.

"When we get back, pack your things and tell the research track. We leave tomorrow morning."

Zach's POV

Stanton shook his head at us when we got back to the van. "Disappointing boys," he tutted. "Everyone five laps round the track when we're back- ten for Mr Goode."

"What?" I stared in disbelief at my teacher .

"While the boys only failed to identify the fifteenth operative, you did that and were also tailed by them as well. So, ten laps."

"Hey guys," Jonas greeted me and Grant as we came into our dorm. "How was- oh. You two don't look happy."

"The walkway!" Grant groaned. "I didn't realise she was there until the freakin' _walkway_!"

"Well, at least you know who your tail was," I argued. "I didn't even find out who mine was afterward."

"My Egyptian Goddess!" Grant dropped onto his bed. "My Egyptian Goddess was my tail!"

Jonas shook his head, turning back to his laptop. "You speak, yet your words make no sense."

"They were girls!" I yelled, throwing my hands into the air. "None of us got them off the trail, and the lot of them were a bunch of _girls_! And then, we couldn't even identify the last one!" I took Jonas by the shoulders and shook him. "Our butts were whipped by a bunch of girls!"

Jonas pushed me away. "Dude, calm down." He turned back to his laptop once again.

"What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking for more information on The Chameleon."

That immediately piqued everybody's interest. The Chameleon was a secret intelligence legend, a CIA legacy, and one of the best in the business.

"What have we got so far?" I was referring to the file we were making on The Chameleon. So far, it was pretty small.

"Well, we have their code name, they're a CIA legacy, and they've escaped a top secret facility. We do not know their real name, their gender, their age, or their location. On the plus, I have found another fact: they successfully trailed Mr Smith for a full nine hours."

"_The_ Mr Smith?" Grant gasped. "The guy who has plastic surgery done to his face every summer? The most paranoid human being on earth?"

"The very same. And- wait; hang on a sec." Jonas tapped on the keyboard a bit more, and his eyes widened. "I've got something!" he yelled. We leaned over his shoulder at the two words: **Gallagher Academy**. "They must've gone to this school." He tried entering, but we were met with a firewall.

I looked at Jonas. "You up to it?"

Jonas seemed offended. "Heck, yeah." He started typing, and Grant and I settled down for the wait.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Gallagher Girls, Ally Carter does; I am just borrowing characters and places mentioned in the book.

You guys are awesome reviewers!

Chapter 3

Cammie's POV

That night, Macey, Bex, Liz and I were dancing round our room, packing for the trip, and laughing at the stupidity of the boys.

"Can you believe it?" Bex snorted. "That boy, Zachary Goode, he practically carried you there!"

Macey giggled. "Mine didn't realise until we were almost at the movie complex! He looked like a complete doofus!"

Liz spun around on her computer chair. "Yeah, and Bex's didn't realise until the walkway and- _Oh my God!_" she shrieked, abruptly stopping her chair and facing the computer screen.

"Liz?" I jumped over Macey's suitcase in an attempt to reach the desk. "What's wrong?"

"Someone's hacking into the Gallagher Academy site!" she exclaimed. "It's okay though, they haven't even reached the third firewall."

"Well, back hack them!" Bex yelled.

But just before Liz did so, Macey whispered something into her ear. An evil grin spread across Liz's face, and her fingers were flying over the keys.

Zach's POV

"Dude," Grant yawned. "It's been two hours. How long is this gonna take you?"

"Their system is amazing!" Jonas stared at his laptop, as if he couldn't comprehend what was going on. "I haven't even reached the end of the second firewall yet, and- what the hell?!"

I ran over to him to see the screen switching on and off until it was just a mixture of colours. Suddenly, it froze, and text appeared on the screen:

Try that again, and there will be problems. BIG problems.

Bookworm, Peacock, Duchess, and Chameleon

And just like that, sparks flew off the computer, and the laptop shorted out with a belch of smoke. There was silence.

I was the first to recover. "Well," I said to no one in particular. "We can add 'good with technological explosions' to our list."


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own the Gallagher Girls or the characters, I am just borrowing them and slightly tweaking it to my liking.

Chapter 5

Cammie's POV

I'm going to tell you one thing: when you room with Macey McHenry, and Bex Baxter, packing to spend a semester in a spy school for boys is a living hell.

"Cammie!" Macey practically shrieked as I put my favourite hoodie into my suitcase.

I jumped, startled. "What?"

"What is that… _thing_?" Macey looked in disgust at the item of clothing I held in my hand.

"My hoodie?"

"Put it away," she ordered.

"Why?"

"It's three seasons ago!"

"But-"

"No buts!"

I sighed and returned it to my drawer. "So, you guys excited?"

Liz nodded her head furiously. "According to the files Bex came across, Blackthorne is very similar to us. It's not a finishing school, but it's made to look like a snobby academy. It's in Maine."

"Cammie!" Bex's voice came from the bathroom. "Why's your make up bag still in here?"]

"Because I don't need it!" I yelled back. "It's just a school, no different from ours."

"Except it's for boys," Liz reminded me.

"So?"

Macey looked like she wanted to knock some girly logic into my head. "So-" At that moment, in walked my saviour: Mom.

"Girls, you should really be getting to bed," she said. "You're leaving at seven tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Mrs Morgan," my friends chorused, Macey shooting me a "we'll deal with this later" look.

"Cammie," my mother looked at me. "I didn't hear you."

I smiled. "Yes, Mom."

"Good."

Later that night, while the other three were asleep, I put my hoodie back in my suitcase.

The next morning, twenty bleary eyed girls with large suitcases stood in the main foyer. Somehow, Joe was bright-eyed and alert, tapping his foot impatiently as we waited for Tina Walters to drag her bag down the final steps.

"Okay, girls," he announced once we were on the private jet (courtesy of Macey) "This evening at dinner, the headmaster, Dr Steve, will be introducing the Gallagher sophomore class to the entire school. Now, the last time I was at a Blackthorne Institute dinner, the boys looked as if they were about to drop off their seats in boredom. So," he smiled wickedly at us, "Let's see if we can give them something to talk about."

Zach's POV

"So," I said to Jonas and Grant, "We know now that The Chameleon is a CIA legacy, they've escaped a top secret facility, they've tailed Mr Smith for nine hours, and they go- or went- to this place called Gallagher Academy."

"Which has really good defences," Jonas added.

"And they seem to have a team as well," Grant said as we walked into the dinner hall. "Code names Bookworm, Peacock, and Duchess."

Let me just tell you something about our dinner hall. It's huge. It's got a couple hundred or so round tables dotted about the room, a buffet, a pretty good cook, and skylights in the ceiling about 30 feet above us.

The three of us sat at our usual table, chatting and messing about with our mates. Then, Dr Steve, our headmaster started the Talk. No, not that kind of talk. He makes a big speech about how _excellent_ the next few weeks of the semester will be, and he wants us to try our best and all. This is about the time when I zone out, but I chose to keep listening, because, surprise, surprise, Joe Solomon stepped out onto the stage, and up to the podium. But just before he did, he caught Dr Steve and whispered something in his ear. Dr Steve looked surprised, but then, an untrustworthy grin spread across his face, and he nodded to Joe.

"Hello, gentlemen," Joe said, his gaze sweeping over the hall.

"Good evening, Mr Solomon," we replied as one voice.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering why your old Cove Ops teacher was back. Well, I've been quite busy at a new school. A school quite like yours, but with one huge difference." Whispers erupted around the hall. "Now, twenty of my best students in the sophomore year will be-"

Suddenly, there was a shattering sound from above us, and glass rained down on the students. I looked up to see a figure, fully dressed in black, falling from the ceiling.

Cammie's POV

The girls were in position. I could hear everybody reporting through the comms.

"Charlie Team is by the windows, awaiting signal," I heard Macey's voice, loud and clear.

"Beta Team is ready at the main doors," I heard Anna Fetterman relay.

"Alpha Team is on the roof," I said softly. "Balaclavas down." As one, all twenty girls, dressed in black, pulled down their black "ski masks" and we listened intently to Joe Solomon.

"…a school quite like yours, but with a huge difference," Joe was saying. "Twenty of my best students in the sophomore year will be-"

At that moment, I gave the signal for Bex to push me, and I smashed through the skylight, plummeting towards the ground. 30 feet, Joe had told me. Easy. I grabbed onto one of the lights dangling from the ceiling, slowing my fall, and I dropped onto one of the tables. The shouts of the boys subsided as they stood in shock, staring at me.

"ABC, move in," I muttered into my comms. And the girls leapt through window, charging through the doors, and the rest of Alpha team dropped from the roof. Gallagher Academy sophomore year had arrived.

This seemed to shake the boys out of their trance. I heard somebody come up behind me, but before they could lay a hand on my shoulder, Joe's voice rang out. "At ease, boys." This was our signal.

All twenty of us made our way towards the stage, jumping over tables and dodging around the boys. Joe smiled at me, and I couldn't resist giving him a hug. I swear the entire Blackthorne student population drew a sharp breath. He chuckled and hugged me back, whispering "Well done, Camster" in my ear. I couldn't help smiling. My godfather rocks. I made my way to the far end of the line that the girls had formed.

Joe turned towards the boys. I couldn't wait to see their faces once they saw the truth.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Gallagher Girls or the characters; the people in charge of book rights refuse to let me have a claim.

Chapter 6

Zach's POV

My God. A person just dropped 30 feet and simply stood up. They looked around and suddenly, another nineteen masked figures poured into the hall; from the roof, through the windows- some simply ran in through the doors. I shook myself and advanced towards the first figure; but before I could lay a finger on them, Joe suddenly said from the podium, "At ease, boys."

At some sort of signal, the twenty people in black ran to the stage, leaping over obstacles like they weren't there. I lost track of which person was which- they looked so alike in black. Then something else happened. A figure went up to Joe Solomon and _hugged_ him. I sucked in a breath along with the rest of the students. I felt so sorry for the person who was about to die.

Then something even weirder happened. Joe seemed to _laugh_ and then _he hugged the person back_. I think the world just ended.

Joe turned to us. "Sit down, gentlemen." We complied. "Now, I know this is somewhat a shock to you, but it was much more exciting than most dinners here." He chuckled. "Anyway, let's get down to business." He gestured to the line of figures in black behind him. "Boys, may I present to you, the sophomore class of the Gallagher Academy."

I looked up. The Chameleon went- or used to- go to that school. Maybe these guys might know him. But then, in perfect sync, the students on stage pulled off their balaclavas, and a gasp ran through the crowd.

Twenty girls stood in line, staring out to the crowd, expressions of steel on their faces. Another thing they had in common: they were _hot._ Then I realised that fourteen of them were the operatives that had tailed us in our assignment. But at the very end, were the two girls that interested me most. One of them was Grant's Egyptian goddess, and the last was her friend who was by the gift shop. I couldn't help but stare. She was a spy? Had she been compromised? Had the boys described her when I wasn't listening?

Joe interrupted my thoughts. "The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women has been set up since the late seventeenth century with one sole purpose- women are every bit as capable as men when it comes to secret intelligence. These girls will be spending the semester here, in class with the Blackthorne sophomore year." All envious eyes turned to the sophomore tables. I raise an eyebrow at them and smirked. "Now, the girls will give you their names."

The first girl came up to the mic. "Eva." And just like that, she goes back in line.

Jonas raises his hand. Joe spots it. "Yes, Jonas?"

"Won't they be telling us their full names? Or code names?" he had a point.

Joe smiled the same smile the entire school had grown to either love, or hate. "Now, where would be the fun in that? Sophomore class, here's a special task for you. Each of you will be paired with one of the girls, and you have until the end of the week to guess or find their surnames. If you don't have them by the end of the week, I will announce them in front of the whole school. Now, carrying on…"

He stepped away from the mic, and the next girl came up. "Mick."

"Tina."

"Anna."

The names went on until the last four girls came to the mic.

A drop-dead gorgeous girl came to the mic. She looked like she belonged on a magazine cover, not in a spy school. She looked familiar though. "I'm Macey."

A small petite blond walked up, and I swear she managed to trip over thin air, and I think she said "Oopsy daisy". She looked out at the crowd and seemed to shrink even further. "Hi, I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz."

Then it was Grant's Egyptian goddess. "Hi, I'm Bex." But before she could walk away, Joe gave her a look. She sighed. "Fine. My real name's Rebecca. But if any of you dogs even think of calling me anything other than Bex, you will be in the hospital for a month." That shut up most of the students, apart from me and some of the seniors and juniors.

Then it was my girl, up at the mic. "One word of warning to you, Blackthorne Boys. You see these girls, lined up behind me? They will not take any idiocy from you. If you mess with us, or try to take advantage of us, we will pound you five feet into the Earth's crust." She glared out at the crowd. "Anyway, I've been told not to give my name for classified reasons," I couldn't see from this far off, but I think she smirked. "So, each and every one of you will call me 'C' until the end of the week." Then she backed off to join her friends.

Joe turned to the school. "Sophomore class, you will meet me outside the hall after dinner. Have a nice meal, gentlemen."

Cammie's POV

As soon as we were out of the hall after dinner, the entire Gallagher sophomore class collapsed into fits of giggles.

"Did you see their faces?" Tina cried. "They were like 'what the hell is going on here, some girls just ambushed us in the middle of dinner'. Please, Liz, please tell me you can record the CCTV tape!"

Liz nodded, wiping away tears from her eyes. "I'll send it to everyone. Even some of the boys."

At that moment, Joe came out, tailed by twenty boys. I smirked. "Hey, Joe." For some reason, the boys' eyes widened and seemed to flinch.

Joe chuckled and hugged me. The boys' jaws dropped to the floor. "Nice one, C. And good job, ladies," he carried on. He then turned to the boys. "Now, there are twenty in each sophomore class. This will be interesting." Joe got out a list and started reeling off names. The boys led off the girls they'd been paired with, looking a little smug. That left four boys, Macey, Bex, Liz, and me.

"James Guild, Macey," Joe said. "Grant Newman, Bex; Jonas Anderson, Liz; and Zach, you can go with C." Joe smirked. "Thought I'd give you a challenge." And with that, he walked off.

I turned to my partner. "Hello, Zachary Goode." I did a mock curtsey.

He started. "You know my name."

"No duh."

"What'd Joe mean by a challenge?"

Looking after my godfather, I shrugged. "Look, if you can just point me in the direction of the dorms, I'll get my suitcases and be on my way."

But before I could go, Zach grabbed me by the wrist. "Nu uh, Gallagher Girl. Weren't you listening to Mr Solomon? I'm your guide, you gotta stick with me."

I looked up at his emerald green eyes, ready to make some cool comeback. And momentarily froze. I realised just then how close we were standing. I was inches away from his chest, which I could see was really toned, even through his button-down shirt.

I looked down. "Fine. Whatever you say, Blackthorne Boy."

He chose to ignore the nickname and dragged me down the hall. "So, I'm assuming the jet is outside?" I gave him a withering look. "Right, so come on." We walked out of the main doors towards the jet, where the boys were being manly and handing out our suitcases. I immediately saw what my classmates were doing. They were playing dumb, getting the Blackthorne student's defences down. If we were underestimated, we'd shake this school to its foundations once they find out what we can do. So I played along.

"Uh, stupid bag," I groaned, trying to haul the biggest of my two suitcases up the flight of stairs.

"Something wrong?" Zach came up behind me with my duffel bag.

I smiled at him. "Yeah; see, Macey packs our bags when we go away. Well, not literally, but she'll tell us what and what not to pack. So, that is why this thing weighs a ton!" I kicked my suitcase in frustration, and sat down on the smaller one.

"Here, let me," Zach handed me the duffel bag and, with a grunt, lifted the suitcase, and carried it up the stairs. I picked up my other two bags and followed, smirking.

Zach lugged my suitcase up three floors; it was obviously a little heavy for him, but he didn't complain.

"So," he said as he dragged the bag down the third floor dorm corridor. "What do you think of Blackthorne so far?"

I shrugged. "They need to update their security."

He seemed surprised, but was quickly smirking again. "Is that so? Well, here we are. Room 313." We stopped at a door. "I'm down the hall if you need anything, Gallagher Girl." He bowed mockingly to me, and walked down the hall, hands in his pockets, whistling an annoying tune.

I smiled and took my bags inside, swinging the biggest effortlessly onto my assigned bed. Messing with the boys? This was going to be fun.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry i havent updated in a while. im back at school; i swear the teachers are trying to suffocate us, because the homework pile's up around my ears! but i also had writers block, and not much time on my computer.

anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Ktclaire99, cuz she is just that awesome

Disclaimer:I don't own the Gallagher Girls whatsoever

Chapter 7

Zach POV

As soon as C had gone into her dorm, I raced down the hall to the room I shared with Grant, Jonas and James.

"What the hell!" Grant was saying. "Gallagher Academy is for girls? What does the Chameleon have to do with a bunch of sappy girls?"

"They ambushed us in the middle of dinner?" Jonas was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Uh, one question: _why_?"

"The girl who dropped from the ceiling kicked over my tray," I said randomly. "I was really looking forward to my sticky chocolate pudding."

My three friends turned to stare at me.

"Dude?" Grant raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "But Jonas is right. Why would they ambush us in the middle of dinner, when they would be staying here for a semester, and weren't stealing anything?"

"To check our reflexes?" Jonas suggested.

"To get a thrill of falling 30 feet?" Grant offered.

We turned to James, aka our resident girl expert. James rolled his eyes. "There are a number of different reasons for the girls to do what they did. Jonas, can I borrow your laptop?"

In a matter of minutes, we had a list:

WHY WOULD TWENTY GIRLS/SPIES-IN-TRAINING JUMP THROUG WINDOWS, BURST THROUGH THE DOORS, FALL 30 FEET FROM THE CEILING SKYLIGHT, AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN AMBUSH

According to Operative Newman, girls like to be unpredictable, so they try to catch us off guard by falling through the ceiling.

They're doing a project and collecting data on what shocks teenage boys the most (suggestion offered by Operative Anderson)

They were trying to look tough, but when they saw how strong and trained we were, they decided to leave out the fighting part (Operative Guild)

The girl falling through the roof was an accident, and they were dressed in black from a mission (entirely possibly, but why would only a few of them be on the roof?)

They're really enemy spies posing as Gallagher Academy trying to steal the Blackthorne alumni disc and Joe Solomon was really another enemy agent in disguise (This idea was from Operative Newman and was met with sarcastic looks)

(Operative Goode) two words: Joe Solomon

The four of us leant back against the wall and stared at the list in front of us. Somehow, the ideas we came up with didn't exactly fit what we'd seen.

"My second idea could be entirely possible," began Grant. "I think I saw something coming out of Solomon's neck-"

"Yes, Grant, that would be his head," I snapped.

"And no one could impersonate Joe Solomon," Jonas added. "He's… well… _Joe Solomon_." Like that would explain everything- which, it did.

James levered himself off the bed. "Well, instead of theorising, how about we find out for ourselves?" he had a mischievous glint in his eye. "Jonas, do you remember those bugs you made in ninth grade?"

Jonas caught on immediately and ran over to his desk. "Mic, heat sensor, camera, or all three?"

I realised what they were saying and I saw Grant's eyes widen. "No, James," Grant stated. "That's just-"

"The perfect solution?"

Grant sat there for a minute. "Alright, but no cameras!" he said sternly.

Cammie's POV

I crawled along the vent, a small mic bug attached to my shirt, and a spare comms unit in my ear.

"I'm nearly there," I muttered into my comms. "Which one did Jonas say it was, Liz?"

"Room 320" was Liz's reply. "Are you nearly there?"

I'm right above them." I switched on the bug. "Here's the Blackthorne Boys' Dorm show, folks."

The boys were crowded round a laptop, seemingly thinking (shocker) and pacing round the room.

Suddenly, the blond 'Greek god', according to Bex, snapped his fingers. "I got it!" his friends looked at him expectantly. "They're really enemy spies posing as Gallagher Academy trying to steal the Blackthorne alumni disc and Joe Solomon was really another enemy agent in disguise!" He beamed, but his smile quickly faltered as he saw the glares and sarcastic looks that he was receiving.

I heard laughter on the other end of my comms. "Macey," Liz started. "Are they…?"

"They're trying to figure out why we ambushed them in the middle of dinner!" Macey's delicate giggles tickled my ear through my earpiece.

After a few minutes, the boys leant back against the wall and stared at their computer screen.

"My second idea could be entirely possible," began the Greek god. "I think I saw something coming out of Solomon's neck-"

"Yes, Grant, that would be his head," the dark haired boy, Zach, snapped.

"And no one could impersonate Joe Solomon," the geeky kid added. "He's… well… _Joe Solomon_."

The fourth boy levered himself off the bed. "Well, instead of theorising, how about we find out for ourselves? Jonas, do you remember those bugs you made in ninth grade?"

The geeky kid ran over to a desk. "Mic, heat sensor, camera, or all three?"

"No, James," Grant stated. "That's just-"

"The perfect solution?"

Grant sat there for a minute. "Alright, but no cameras!" he said sternly.

I backed up as quickly and quietly as possible, slipping through the open section of the air vent and dropping to the floor. From the looks of my three best friends, they'd heard it too.

"They're going to try and _bug us_?" Bex was outraged. "They honestly think we're that stupid?"

Liz detached the bug from my shirt. "I don't know; the girls are playing it dumb, right? So maybe we should let them _think_ their bugs are working and…"

Macey's eyes gleamed. "Liz, sometimes I wonder if Bex is the crafty one here."

"Hey!" Bex protested, but she was smiling too. "Let's get to it."


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Gallagher Girls or the characters. Ally came up with them and I am eternally grateful that I can use them for my somewhat crazy stories!

Chapter 8

Zach's POV

The next day, we had our plan set. It was Saturday, and today was the day that the boys showed the girls around the mansion that was our school. Grant, being the flirt that he is, suggested he take all four girls on the tour that afternoon, seeing as the other three of us had "homework". The girls, amazingly, smiled and accepted Grant's offer.

"Hope you get your homework done," C said as she passed me. For a minute I wondered if she was onto us, but I quickly shook it off. We were Blackthorne Boys. Nobody was ever onto us.

As soon as they were out of sight, and we waited 2 minutes and 27 seconds, James and I leapt into action. Jonas acted as lookout while we casually walked down the corridor, and slipped into Room 313.

"You cover the heat sensors, I'll do the bugs," I told James as we stood in the room. Amazingly, it wasn't as girly as we'd thought. Yeah, on one desk there was an entire box of sticks and brushes and pencils and powders (James informed us that this was called _makeup_) but other than that, it wasn't that different to our own room.

We tiptoed around, planting our bugs, making sure we disturbed nothing that would show we'd been there.

"Hacker, any sign?" I muttered into my comms. Yeah, we had comms, but we couldn't exactly have him yell down the hall when he saw the girls coming.

"Nothing. Grant's showing them the P&E Room- you know, the underground one we use in the winter?"

"Oh, that one."

We continued our work, and were turning on the wireless connection between the bugs and Jonas' computer, when we heard him hiss. "Subjects approaching. I repeat, subjects approaching!"

And the second after he said that, we heard a girlish laugh, and a voice say, "My gosh, Grant. We just thought the other boys would want to join us. Homework in a place like this can't take that long."

"Hacker, where are they?"

"Coming up the stairs. Guys, get out of there!"

We didn't have to be told twice. We quickly stepped out of room 313, and made our way as quickly as possible to our own dorm. James was through, but just as I reached the doorway, I heard, "Zach! There you are!"

I looked at the guys, before putting on my cocky smirk, and turning to C. "C; hi. You guys done so soon?"

Behind the girls, Grant was signing in Mandarin, _they wanted for you guys to join them. What was I supposed to do, challenge them to a kickboxing match? Dude, they're girls._

"God, no; this place is huge!" she laughed. "We were just wondering if you guys were done yet. Poor Grant here has been struggling to answer eight questions at once!" one look from Grant's tired face told me that this was not a lie. "So, what do you say? Private tour?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"I, uh…" it was just then that karma blessed me with the bell signalling lunch. "Actually, we have to go eat now, and then it's the weekly P&E challenge."

C looked slightly uncomfortable. "What kind of challenge?"

I smirked. The boys had the upper hand again. "You'll see, Gallagher Girl; you'll see."

Cammie's POV

After lunch, I sauntered up to our room. The girls were already there, gossiping, and writing "class notes".

"Hey, guys!" I dropped onto my bed. "How goes homework?" I quickly scribbled on the paper:

_Found out about the challenge?_

"Meh; the usual," Macey replied.

_It's called "King of the Mat". Apparently, it's this fight thing, where two people start off, and everyone else steps up one by one to try and defeat the champion. I think that the girls are allowed to participate if they want-_

All four of us locked eyes. And smiled.

"So, guys" Bex spoke up casually, "Have you heard about this challenge? I heard from Tina that we'll have to fight the boys!" feigned fear crept into her voice.

"What? Fighting? Boys? _Fighting?_ _I can't fight! And I can't fight boys!_" Liz 'freaked out'.

"Guys, it'll be fine." But Macey's voice edged into 'uncertainty'.

"Come on," I said, getting up. "We should get changed. Prepare ourselves. Let's go, see the competition." I had to bite my tongue from laughing as I grabbed my gym stuff and headed for the bathroom.

**Sorry it's been a while, but i was blocked and had school. dont kill me! besides, if you do, i cant update!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, guys! **

**So so sooo sorry that I haven't been updating recently. I tend to find fight scenes harder to write, and I had to deal with school, projects, a little brother, Halloween, spiders in my bathroom, and life in general. So I hope you enjoy the Gallagher girls whipping the Blackthorne boys' butts!**

**Peace,**

**Ciara xxx**

Chapter 9

Zach's POV

I was looking forward to King of the Mat even more than usual. And that was saying something.

Jonas, Grant, James and I practically bounded over to Stanton, who was waiting for the competitors by a wide round mat. Amazingly, all of the girl sophomore class came, as well as the boys.

"So," Stanton paced around the perimeter of the mat, which was lined with students, "I hope my boys know King of the Mat, seeing as I've been drilling it into your head for the past three years. But ladies, this is how you play: two people will stand on the mat and fight. The person who takes down their opponent first wins. Oh, and it's got to impress us. How about we start with Jonas? Seems easy for a start."

Jonas stepped forward, a little nervously, but confident. I mean, even Jonas could take on these girls.

"Now… how about… you?" Stanton pointed at C's friend, Liz Sutton.

She stared at Stanton for a second, but then smiled. "Yes, sir." She stepped daintily out onto the mat, and I realised how fragile she was. She was thinner than a toothpick, and I couldn't see any apparent muscle. With her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her shorts and T-shirt, and her big blue eyes- she reminded me of a doll. I actually felt sorry for her.

Stanton blew his whistle, and the match began. The boys whooped and hollered for Jonas as he circled Liz, who stood in the middle of the mat, unmoving. But the girls stood there silently, not showing any encouragement for their classmate. I looked more closely, and saw that they were smirking. They knew something that we didn't. Then I noticed Liz's stance and posture.

Oh hell.

"Jonas," I began, but it was too late. Jonas came barrelling towards Liz's back, and suddenly, a dainty hand shot out. It grabbed Jonas by the forearm, and shifting her weight, Liz threw Jonas over her shoulder. Jonas landed on his back with a thud and a groan. The boys stared at the delicate sixteen-year-old girl who'd just judo-flipped a guy who was over a head taller than her, even if it was a slightly clumsy flip. The girls grinned evilly.

Stanton simply looked up from his clipboard and smiled. "So, who's next?"

The girls were shocking the hell out of us. A few times, we had to call a tie, because the boys couldn't pin down their opponents long enough. The other times, the girls won. Which was a lot.

And let me tell you, they were impressive. Some of the moves they used, I swear that they were illegal in more than ten countries and half of the states in America. Apart from Texas. Practically nothing's illegal in Texas.

Grant went up against Bex, and being the arrogant git he is, didn't take any of what happened to his fellow classmates into account. After four or five Pendanski flips, a few kicks to the shins, arms, and everywhere else, Grant found himself on the floor, on his stomach, his arm twisted behind him, his leg in a _very_ uncomfortable position beneath the other, and Bex perched on the small of his back.

"Nice try, Newman," Bex 'complimented' my friend. "But never underestimate the British."

She elegantly stood up and glided over to her friends, who congratulated her with smirks, high fives, and triumphant grins.

"Okay," Stanton wrote something on his clipboard. "Two more pairs… Goode, come out here."

I casually strolled forward and stood on one side of the mat, looking around, smirking. There was a really buff girl on one side of the room. Can girls be buff? Probably, because this girl had loads of muscle. I think her name was Mick. She hadn't gone yet. She was most likely my partner. I made a step towards her.

"Oh no, Mr Goode. That girl is not your opponent. I was thinking more along the lines of… her." and he pointed to C.

I gave him the 'you're kidding me' look and turned towards her. She was smirking and seemed as laid back as me. We walked towards the centre of the mat and stood two metres apart.

"You're going down, Gallagher Girl," I grinned, projecting a laidback air.

"Keep telling yourself that, Zachary," C replied.

Stanton blew his whistle and the match began. We began circling each other, but she didn't seem to be putting much effort into it. She wasn't in any particular stance, she had a casual posture, her hands hung loosely by her side.

I swung a punch towards her head, and she leaned back. But instead of coming back up, she dropped into a bridge, then pushed her feet off the ground. Her legs swung up into a handstand, kicking me in the face as they did so.

"_Oooh!" _The crowd was a mixture of laughter and muttering.

C launched off her hands into a round-off, then dropping into a crouch. She raised an eyebrow and smirked at me. Her expression said _'So? What are you gonna do about it?'_

I bit back a growl, and then the real fight began.

We were switching between judo, karate, kung fu, and many other forms of martial arts- half of them weren't allowed to be learned/known by the general public- all to see if one of us could catch the other off guard. C tried to sweep my feet out from under me using her leg, but I flipped backwards, and aimed a roundhouse kick at her chest. She caught my ankle and yanked on it, making me fall onto my back. But before she could let go, I swung my leg backwards, and she was sailing over me. She managed to turn it into a forwards roll as she reached the edge of the mat, and the crowd backed up.

She turned back to me, and we began to circle each other. This girl was pretty good. I began contemplating the moves that I had left. Some of them would work, but they were the kind of complicated that if you did the slightest thing wrong, your opponent would see a weakness and you were done for. Others were too obvious; I had the idea to just go in and punch her, but look how that turned out the first time.

Somehow, through all of my thoughts, we'd spiralled in and were standing less than half a metre apart, in poking distance. And suddenly, C brought her knee up. _Hard_.

The students groaned as I doubled over, clutching my privates. Then, as I looked up at her with watery eyes, she punched me in the face, and in the stomach, like a lowly street thug. As a last move, she swept my feet from underneath me, and I hit the mat.

Everyone (well, the boys) stared at C in shock, and they had good reason to. Nobody had ever beaten me in King of the Mat. I _was_ King of the Mat. But my title had been taken away from me… by a _girl_.

As I was thinking this, C had knelt down, one knee on my chest, and her hands holding down my own. She was smirking _my_ smirk. I had copyright to that! "What the hell, Gallagher Girl?" I growled at her. "How do you go from the most ancient martial arts, to kneeing me in the balls?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Zachary, Zachary. You have forgotten a tactic of war that is more ancient than any martial art you speak of." She sounded like a scholar. "I believe it is called 'underestimation'." And with that, she stood up, taking her hands off mine and her knee off my chest, and sauntered off towards the doors. Her friends quickly joined her- not as if she was their leader, but as if they moved as one. But before they left, C turned back, and looked me straight in the eye. "It was a pleasure fighting you, John." And they were gone.


	10. Author's Notice MUST READ

**Good Evening (where I am) loyal followers!**

**Thank you so much for all your reviews, and for favouriting/following/both this story. You have no idea how much this means to me, and every time I see the word "fanfiction" and "new follower/favourite/review for Blackthorne Exchange" in my mail, I jump up and down squealing like a girl. In case you don't get it: I ****never**** do that.**

**But sadly, my dear friends, my brain has run dry. I have no idea how to carry on this story, and have slapped myself countless times in order to get ****_some_**** idea to give you guys something to read. So, I have an idea:**

**After reading this Author's Notice, or whatever you want to call it, if you have an idea, press the review button. I ****_need_**** help; my brain is lonely and drowning in nothingness (is that a word?) due to lack of inspiration. You write down what you think, how you think the story should go from here. I will read all of them and use my favourite storyline to carry on. The girl/boy/mythical creature/robot will have a shout out in the next posted chapter, and all credit and rights to the story line. Hell, I'll add it into the disclaimer, you can give me a starting chapter, anything as long as it's ****_your original idea_****. Please don't read other fanfics and think "Hey, Ciara Wynne could make that happen in her story" NO. Even if it's the best idea ever, I will ignore it. That is listed as STEALING SOMEONE'S FRESH IDEAS. IT'S THEFT. ****THEFT!**

**...**

**And I'm calm.**

**But seriously you guys, press the R button, review, get those puny mortal brains of yours working, working so hard you can hear the metaphorical cogs turning in your skull. INSPIRE ME!**

**Peace, **

**Ciara xxx**


	11. Announcement- you'll hate me forever

**Hi, I'm sorry about not updating so recently, and you're going to hate me even more when I say this story is going on haitus. It's just you've overloaded me with so many ideas, I'm still trying to figure it all out, and I'm trying to vent my writer's block through other fanfics of mine that have yet to face the site. I hope the haitus won't last long, because you guys are such awesome reviewers.**

**Peace,**

**Ciara xxx**


	12. I'm back!

**Hello! Please don't kill me! This story's going slowly at the moment, but I shall prevail! In the meantime, while I try and work this stuff out, here are a few shout-outs to the people who helped me with this plot:**

**MrsGoodA-Not-So-TrainedMonkey**

**SHADOW1999**

**mia.b.003**

**I have combined your ideas to create the rest of my plot, and adding my own stuff on the way. You guys are the best!**

**If this is going too slowly for you, I have two other stories on this site; one's completed, the other I've just started.**

**I don't own Gallagher Girls, all rights go to Ally Carter.**

**Peace,**

**Ciara xxx**

**Chapter 10**

**Zach's POV**

"She's amazing!" James cried as we entered our room.

"So petite, yet so strong," Jonas murmured.

"I have fallen in love with her!" Grant proclaimed dramatically.

"She called me John," I muttered.

Of course, we were all talking about completely different girls.

"I think I know who my girl is," James announced, grabbing Jonas' laptop and, ignoring the latter's protests, was punching the keys furiously. After a minute or so, he spun the screen to face us. In sync, we leaned forwards.

There, on Google Images, was James' partner, Macey. On a magazine cover. above her head were the words _Senator McHenry's Pride and Joy_.

"Macey McHenry," Grant gawped. "She's… she's…" he collapsed onto my bed; the rest of us turned to him with bemused faces. "She's a spy," he said through sputters of laughter. "The daughter of a senator- _and she's a spy_!" We rolled our eyes.

"No, really?" James gasped mockingly. "We thought she was a barmaid!"

"Zach," Jonas looked at me weirdly. "Is your middle name John or something?"

"No."

"'Cause I swear…"

I groaned. "Yes. C called me John. She must've heard me talking to the…" My eyes widened.

"Zach…" Grant got up from my bed, laughing fit over.

I suddenly lashed out and punched the wall; I quickly started waving my hand around as I paced. "It was her! During the tail mission at the Smithsonian, I walked into a girl; I knocked her over, she landed badly on her ankle. She was going in the same direction as me, so I helped her to the movie complex. She asked for my name, and I said John Smith."

"Dude," Jonas groaned. "Obvious much?"

"She was the fifteenth operative! She was my tail!" It took all I had in me to not yell the last one; didn't want the entire corridor to know.

"She is good," James mused from his seat at Jonas' desk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I rounded on him.

"Well, she's made quite a name for herself, in the time the girls have arrived at Blackthorne. For starters, after seeing the girls in action, it was either her, Macey, or Bex who fell from the ceiling. They are the only ones with a figure remotely similar to the one who came down. Secondly, she _hugged_ Joe Solomon. And _he hugged back_. Then, just now, she beat _you_ at King of the Mat. If the other things don't count for something, what about that?"

"It's true, Zach," Grant said. "No one beats you at King of the Mat. And she's a girl."

"Huh" was all I said.

**Cammie's POV**

I watched Bex laugh at another of Grant's jokes. They were oblivious to the glares they were getting; Bex the girls, Grant the boys. It was pretty hilarious. Macey had made her contribution to our master fun plan: mess with the boys- not just throwing them around and punching the daylights out of them; to quote Macey, "lead them on and break their hearts"

I thought the last part was unnecessary.

I wasn't really participating in the 'leading them on' scheme; it was more the other girl's area. Liz, the Southern Belle; Bex, the Exotic Beauty; and Macey, Miss America, daughter of a senator. Then there was me; Cammie. Plain eyes, plain hair, plain face. There was a reason I chose my codename to be Chameleon; a chameleon can blend, eyes slip over it like it's not really there. Like me.

"Hey, Gallagher Girl." Zach slid in next to me, jolting me out of my admittedly morbid thoughts.

"Hey, Blackthorne Boy," I replied, poking at my dessert.

"What's wrong? Don't like banana sponge and custard?" His green eyes twinkled.

"Let's say it's an... acquired taste."

"Our food is not good enough the mighty C?" He said in mock horror. "Whatever shall we do?!"

Since the Josh incident, I've steered clear of boys. Focus on the job, ignore that kind of stuff. It wasn't until later on that day that I realised that I'd laughed. I'd genuinely laughed at this boy's humour.

"You want to know why the girls look a little disappointed at the food?" I leant in and he did the same. I tried not to get too transfixed by his eyes. "Our chef used to work in high places. He owes the school a favour."

Zach laughed. "Couple of little princesses, aren't you?"

"Be happy I'm a passive kind of feminist… usually," I said casually. "I assure you, none of the girls will take that as a compliment."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for starters, they all heard you. Second, they don't seem all that happy."

Zach turned and sure enough all my classmates were glaring fiercely.

"Ah," he grinned. "Should probably find shelter. Or a shield."

"That would be advisable," I nodded. He was off very quickly.

Blending in, I began to walk towards the single table Bex shared with Grant. I sat at a table next to them so our backs faced each other.

"Come on, give me a clue here!" Grant was complaining playfully. "Is it something really British? Johnson? Kensington?"

"Nope," Bex 'giggled'. "Keep trying, Newman."

"English? No, Grant, don't be an idiot! Tudor?"

"I hope I'm not related to that fat monarch!"

"Wait! I have it!" Grant leant forward "Bond," he arched an eyebrow. "Bex Bond."

Bex laughed. "Funny, but no."

"Come on," Grant muttered mainly to himself. "Bex Mc something, Bex Box, Bex Bix..."

Bex didn't wince at how close he was, but her eye slightly twitched. Always the eye twitch; the only time she could ever gain control over that was in times of real seriousness.

"Okay, before you combust your brain thinking about that, at least tell me about your school..."

I smiled and moved towards the door, passing Liz and Jonas talking animatedly about God knows what. As I walked out of the dinner hall, someone grabbed my shoulder and yanked me to the side. I twisted their ark, held it behind my attacker's back and kept their head down with my other hand.

"Whoa, Cam- C," Macey muttered, glancing around in case someone was nearby. "Hurting much."

"Sorry." I let her straighten up. "What's wrong?" the Senator's daughter did not look happy- see that last word? That's a big understatement.

"He knows," she hissed furiously. "James worked out my last name! He typed it into Google for God's sake!"

"Surprised he didn't do it sooner."

"How about your subject?"

"Being chased by our classmates for calling them princesses. It's like they've completely forgotten about King of the Mat."

"Boys tend to do that," Macey explained. "They push their personal embarrassing moments into one box and lock it, pretend it never happened." She looked around. "Anyway, I gotta find James." I raised an eyebrow. "What? He's my Subject!" And she ran off.

"So that's what you think we do?" I spun round to face Zach who was leaning against the wall. "We 'lock' away embarrassing memories?"

"Then why is everyone in your year acting like King of the Mat never happened, and insulting my sisters?"

"Your sisters? Wow, your mom has been busy."

"Shut up, Goode."

"Make me," he smirked. "_Cam_."

Oh no, he didn't.

I dragged Zach along the corridor and began running my hands along the wall. _Come on, come on, come on…_

"What are you doing?" he looked at me, bemused.

I ignored him. Finally, my fingers found a crack, with a cool breeze floating through. I pressed it, opening a passageway, and pulled Zach inside.

"But…" he looked around, confused. "How do you know about this place?"

"I have a knack for secret passages," I said offhandedly. "Now, _why were you eavesdropping on me?_"

He smirked, and pointed to himself. "Spy." Of course.

His elbow slightly poked my ribs, and I realised that due to the narrowness of the passage, I once again found myself _extremely_ close to the dark-haired boy.

"My turn," he said.

"'My turn'? What are we, five?"

"I want to ask a question too. Why do you call the other girls your sisters?"

This was just plain rude now; he couldn't ask me this kind of stuff. "Look-"

In the distance, the bell rang. _My saviour!_

"We've got to get to class." I walked out of the entrance, but turned back at the last minute. "And it's Cammie, Blackthorne Boy. Cammie." And I was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello. Yes, been quite a while. I warned you it was going slowly. But hey, I've been working on this for you guys.**

**Okay, here I'm going to start doing a few different points of view, just to spice it up a little. Enjoy!**

**Peace,**

**Ciara xxx**

Chapter 11

**Grant's POV**

"Jonas, Jonas, Jonas!" I burst into our room. "Get your equipment up and running!"

Jonas looked up from tomorrow's homework. "What?"

"Why didn't we think of this before?" I began pacing. "It's perfect, they'll have been distracted by all the hassle of the girls coming here, there'll be no one trying to back-hack us!" I turned to Jonas, who was still sitting there, dumbfounded. "Well? Get it up!"

"Grant…" Jonas breathed.

"Yes…" I looked at him, bemused. Honestly, what was wrong with him?

"That's…" Jonas seemed at loss for words, but suddenly broke into a grin. "That's brilliant!" He turned on his computer.

"God, Jonas, you're acting like I don't have any brains," I snorted."Oh, I know you have brains, Grant." Jonas began typing into his keyboard. "I just didn't think you used any of them." I hit him over the head. "Ow! Anyway, I've been monitoring the site. I also realised that the Chameleon and his team didn't need to send us that 'gift'; it was just for fun. A virus comes in while you're hacking and starts putting up shields around the Gallagher Academy from the inside. It doesn't affect any of the computer's information, the virus the Chameleon sent deliberately shorted out the computer."

"So… how is this relevant?" I rubbed the back of my neck.

Jonas rolled his eyes. "I've set up a virus blocker that I designed myself. It won't hold the virus off forever, it's crazy strong; but it will bide us time. Seeing as I made it to the second firewall last time, it will save us quite a lot of time. Also, with the blocker, there won't be more firewalls popping up. But…"

"But what?"

"Settle down for a while."

**Bex's POV**

It was dinner when it happened.

The sophomore year were seated at a cluster of tables, eating, laughing, talking across tables. I was eating my salad when I overheard a heated conversation between Tina, Eva, Anna, Mick and their subjects.

"But with the right numbers, it could be possible!" Eva was saying.

"Maybe with trained professionals, but not people of our age."

"What's this?" I leant over.

"Alan thinks that a group of us couldn't pull off a heist to steal back an alumni disk that could be stolen from the CIA or something."

"But considering security, and all that, you couldn't do it!" a boy banged his head on the table in frustration.

"What makes you think we couldn't?" I arched an eyebrow.

The boys looked down from my gaze and muttered under their breath. Everyone fears the eyebrow.

"What? Think you're better than us? Bet we could do it, better than you, at least."

Then one boy made the fatal mistake.

"But you're girls!"

Silence.

You see, when people insult me because of my gender, and my upbringing in the world of MI6, and my Baxter heritage, I can be, as my friends put it, 'hot headed'.

The girls dragged me away before I could sprain his other wrist and twist his other ankle.

"That sexist pig!" Tina stormed round the common room that had been provided for the girls. "How dare he!"

Everyone was yelling insults about the boys, complaining about their ignorance until Liz of all people stood on a table and screamed, "SHUT UP!" We all fell silent. "Thank you. Now, yelling won't get us anywhere, but strategy," she opened her laptop and with a few taps, she'd hacked into the projector overhead, "will."

The girls murmured appreciatively, and there were a few whoops. I grinned from the back of the crowd. Payback.

Macey stood up. "Liz is right. But what we do has to show the boys that we can be as un-ladylike as they can be un-gentlemanly."

"Is that a word?" Anna Fetterman asked.

Macey shrugged. "Doesn't really matter right now; what matters right now, is how we get our revenge."

"Any ideas?" Liz looked around. "Come on, people!"

"We steal something personal to each of them?" Eva suggested.

"Too risky. They might get suspicious of our interest," someone replied.

"We pound them," Mick smashed her fist into an open palm. "Hard."

"Already done that," another girl sighed. "King of the Mat, remember?"

"It's simple: we beat them at everything, always us girls top of the class, and they come second," someone else yelled.

They wouldn't fall for that. Everyone turned to me and I realised I'd said it out loud.

"What do you mean?" Liz asked.

"Thanks to the… episode in the hall, they'll be expecting us to do something; but their sexism makes them think we'll play safe; stick to the guidelines of being a spy."

"So, you're suggesting something different?" Tina offered.

"Yeah," I grinned at her. "We don't try and beat them the spy way- that's just too easy. I'm talking about beating them at what boys do best."

Liz's eye glinted. "I get you."

Sometimes, Liz is the most dangerous of us all.

**Macey's POV**

I watched in amusement as Zach and Cammie battled it out in Chemistry class. Yes, chemistry class. Each lesson we're asked to create a poison, a liquid dynamite, etc. It was hilarious to watch them but when you wanted to concentrate…

Liz groaned next to me and hit her head against the countertop. "Make them stop, Macey."

"Believe me; if I could, I'd have done it half an hour ago."

"Why are they being like this? I mean, yeah, he found out her name, but he was going to find out anyway- plus, he had to figure out her first name as well as her last name and her code name- and he still hasn't figured those out yet."

"You know Cammie- she'll only accept logical, explainable and unavoidable defeat. And that's when she's got her head on straight."

"Which isn't a lot of the time," Liz muttered affectionately.

I grinned and turned back to see if our piece of metal had disintegrated yet.

**Jonas' POV**

"Yes!" I shouted, causing Grant to topple out of his chair. "The files are loading!"

"Great," Grant got up, nursing his head. "Can you see their names? Code names?"

"Well, it's either trying to fight my virus blocker, or it's just very slow. I've got their pictures so far and- wait! Ah, see? Elizabeth Sutton and Rebecca Baxter."

"Hey, there are the Baxters from MI6, think she could be related to them?"

"Most likely. Hey, I think the code names are coming up! Liz's is Bo- whoa!"

Suddenly the computer was flashing. When it stopped, we were back at the welcome page.

"How dare they mock us," Grant growled.

"Well," I tried to find an upside to what had just transpired, "at least we know my blocker works... for a while."


End file.
